In my 51 years I have yet seen anyone actually addicted to mj. Dependent yes, addicted no. There is a BIG difference. I have multiple sclerosis and am dependent on three pain meds (this includes methadone). I am seriously considering moving to state were medical mj is legal. I have tried it and it is much more effective than any of the pain meds I am currently on. Those other meds I am currently taking are destroying my stomach and kidneys...and who knows what else. This is not something mj does. MJ is so much safer than a lot of legal drugs out there (including alcohol) it is a joke. Legalize pot? You bet!

I am on the fence about this. I don't feel that I am qualified to give an educated enough answer.

I smoked pot a number of years ago. I quit when I realized that I didn't like it anymore.

I drove taxi for a while and found that I would rather deal with potheads than drunks at least nine times out of ten. They get goofy not stupid and they don't get violent like drunks.

I have read some medical reasons why some consider it bad to legalize marijuana, and they make good points. Unfortunately that was a while ago and I can't remember it well enough to try to explain it without screwing up.

I am totally for the medical use of marijuana. I know that there is good testing that shows that it is effective for a number of medical applications.

People who smoke pot will smoke pot. Legalization will have to accompany a shutdown of the drug dealer market perhaps by bringing the drug dealers into the government regulated system or outselling them with lower prices for a while. This why, the source of marijuana can be more easily determined. Again, people who smoke pot will smoke pot no matter what. They rarely consider the consequences of their actions. The drug war in Mexico and Central America which is causing nearly all the instability in that region is partially funded by the purchases of American potheads. Ending American demand for the product from this location could lower the drug dealers' power and income, and it may even help with immigration.

Furthermore, we need to consider the potential for commercialization. Alcohol and cigarettes to a lesser extent are heavily commercialized. Alcohol ads permeate nearly everything and everywhere, and cigarette companies had their heyday of evils and still take advantage of their customers. We need to ensure that if pot is legalized, it is not taken over by corporations capable of brain washing and lullabying potheads into complacency and endless consumption. They will also have the resources to investigate ways of making their product more addictive and inevitably harmful.

I personally don't want corporations making money off of getting people high. Furthermore, with corporate power as strong as it is in America, it may be as hard to regulate these companies as traditional drug dealers.

This would lead to the conclusion that the government should own the pot-selling business. That doesn't sound right at all. So basically, I don't know what to do. This is basically the only political issue that I am unable to take a firm stand on.

(24-09-2010 04:14 PM)TruthAddict Wrote: Furthermore, we need to consider the potential for commercialization. Alcohol and cigarettes to a lesser extent are heavily commercialized. Alcohol ads permeate nearly everything and everywhere, and cigarette companies had their heyday of evils and still take advantage of their customers. We need to ensure that if pot is legalized, it is not taken over by corporations capable of brain washing and lullabying potheads into complacency and endless consumption. They will also have the resources to investigate ways of making their product more addictive and inevitably harmful.

I personally don't want corporations making money off of getting people high. Furthermore, with corporate power as strong as it is in America, it may be as hard to regulate these companies as traditional drug dealers.

This would lead to the conclusion that the government should own the pot-selling business. That doesn't sound right at all. So basically, I don't know what to do. This is basically the only political issue that I am unable to take a firm stand on.

You make a good point about commercialization and corporations. In BC, there are both government-owned and private liquour stores, and that works out pretty well. The same thing, or something similar, can be done for weed.
I don't quite agree with your point about corporations being able to make their product more addictive and harmful. Legalisation of any drug has to pass tests done by food/drug agencies to ensure the safety of the drug before it goes on the market.

"Remember, my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker." - Dr. Van Helsing, Dracula

Quote:I don't quite agree with your point about corporations being able to make their product more addictive and harmful. Legalisation of any drug has to pass tests done by food/drug agencies to ensure the safety of the drug before it goes on the market.

Yep, absolutely. And, there is nothing more incorruptible then a government agency. They are all rocks of integrity. Why, just in the United States there are countless examples of government employees standing up for the rights and well being of the American citizen.

The brave men and women of the Securities and Exchange Commission who made sure that "Chinese Walls" between investment and retail banking arms would not combine together to completely fuck investors by selling worthless stocks that their investment banking arm wanted to push. The tireless bureaucrats at the Minerals Management Service who were sleeping with executives at the oil companies they were charged with overseeing while BP ignored safety regulations all over the United States which lead to almost two dozen deaths long before that rig blew in the Gulf. And, of course, the unsung heroes of the Federal Drug Administration who gallantly limited the number of carcinogens and poisons tobacco companies could add to their product (for the sole purpose of making cigarettes more addictive, thank you very much).

Yes, these protectors of society will absolutely prevent evil corporations from making any type of drug more addictive or harmful because they are all bred in test tubes and genetically altered so gifts and promises of high paying jobs in the private sector have no impact on them at all. I sleep better every night just knowing they are working tirelessly in their cubes to make America a better place.

Or not.

Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost

(24-09-2010 04:14 PM)TruthAddict Wrote: I personally don't want corporations making money off of getting people high. Furthermore, with corporate power as strong as it is in America, it may be as hard to regulate these companies as traditional drug dealers.

This would lead to the conclusion that the government should own the pot-selling business. That doesn't sound right at all. So basically, I don't know what to do.

Canada has a good system for regulating alcohol sales. Beer sales must be through licenced vendors, specifically beer vendors. Hard liquor is sold at liquor commissions which are regulated by the government. (I am not sure if they are run by the government, but they are definitely strictly controlled.) We can't go to a store and by beer or hard liquor like you can in the United States. I feel more comfortable with the Canadian system. It is far from perfect, but most other systems are farther from perfect.

I think that legalized maijuana sales would best be handled in a similar fashion. It would be the most effective way to make it controllable.

I wrote this before I read BnW's last post. It doesn' change my position on legal marijuana, it is just the best option that I know of. You are not going to avoid corruption no matter which way you go, legal or illegal, my post is about minimizing corruption, ending it is impossible.

I wasn't commenting on the legalizing of marijuana at all with my post. On the contrary, I'm fine if it's legalized.

I was just responding to the idea that it can't be altered to be more harmful or addictive because government regulators are looking out for us.

As for the minimizing corruption comment, I think that is irrelevant. The issues with pot is that, at least in the US, we spend an absolute fortune trying to enforce the restrictions and it gets us no where. I can see maybe spending the money to prevent the sale and distribution of something really destructive, like heroin, but pot is not nearly as dangerous as drugs that are handed out every day with prescriptions. The key difference is drug companies sell those drugs, pot you can grow in your backyard.

Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost

(25-09-2010 06:38 AM)BnW Wrote: As for the minimizing corruption comment, I think that is irrelevant. The issues with pot is that, at least in the US, we spend an absolute fortune trying to enforce the restrictions and it gets us no where. I can see maybe spending the money to prevent the sale and distribution of something really destructive, like heroin, but pot is not nearly as dangerous as drugs that are handed out every day with prescriptions. The key difference is drug companies sell those drugs, pot you can grow in your backyard.

I completely agree with this ^.^

Additionally, your comment about growing pot in your backyard may be the key to the issues of distribution and corruption. If weed were to be legalised, then growing your own weed should be legalised as well. This way, greedy corporations are not getting the profits, and if somebody does not trust the drug agencies (which is completely relevant, depending on which country you live in; sometimes I forget that in the US, corporations and government agencies have a lot more leeway) then they have the option to grow their own weed, ensuring the safety and purity of it in that way.

Oh, by the way, thank you BnW, for putting me in my place with your previous post. I realise in hindsight that my proclamation was both infantile and overly simplistic.

"Remember, my friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker." - Dr. Van Helsing, Dracula

Quote:Oh, by the way, thank you BnW, for putting me in my place with your previous post. I realise in hindsight that my proclamation was both infantile and overly simplistic. Blush

I sincerely was not trying to do anything like that. I was trying to make a point and felt it was a tough point to make without being obnoxious, so I tried to go with humorous. However, what is funny in my head may not always be funny out of context, so perhaps I failed.

In my head, though, it was absolutely hysterical. If my brain was a comedy club, I would have killed with that material.

Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross
When ignorance reigns, life is lost